(BY MR. MEDVENE) Dr. Spitz, when we were discussing the sequence of injuries to Nicole Brown, we hadn't discussed what's been marked 2016, which is a picture entitled, Right Side of the Head.
And I would appreciate your coming down, if you could, and giving us your opinion when, in the -- roughly in the sequence of injuries, the right side of the head injury occurred and how and its relationship to 2016, the picture of Ms. Brown with the carotid artery slashed.
On Nicole Simpson's left side of the face in the -- around the left side of the mouth, there is an bruise. It's obviously and definitely there.
There is evidence of swelling and bruising of the lower lip on the left side. The bruise extends down to the level of my pointer here. And the top of the bruise is like that. (Indicating.)
This, in my opinion, by its oval shape and the configuration of this injury, that it's a punch with a fist.
This caused her to fall back and sustain the injury on the right top of the head here, (indicating) from striking the stucco wall or the bannister over it.
There is on -- when you look close at this, there are two areas where the upper layer of the skin is scuffed off, like in a scraping, where -- which we discussed earlier -- the upper layer of the skin is hanging loose; you can actually see it there on the -- on the left, and to a lesser extent, to the one on -- it's right where the skin is hanging loose, and it's like a white tissue, little piece hanging. And this would have occurred, in my view, probably -- more probably than not, from striking the wall, the stucco wall.
In addition to that, she struck on the same wall, the back of the right shoulder and the elbow, as she went back somewhat dazed from this blow. And she was pulled up and held and stabbed and slashed.
Between the two, between this set of injuries and the ones I just described, the blow to the face and the falling over on the wall, are four stab wounds to the head, which did not penetrate the skull and -- and just manifested by a little cut in the skin.
So all these injuries: The head, the punch, the head wound and the ones in the neck area, they're all in one area of the body, inflicted in very rapid succession.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Doctor, how much blood, in your opinion, would an individual have to lose in order to die?
In a rapid blood loss, in an acute type of blood loss like in this case, or in a shooting or a stabbing, there is usually one and a half to two quarts of blood.
In a cavity -- assume somebody is shot in the chest and there's an injury of the heart or the aorta or lung.
When we do an autopsy, normally there is one and a half to two quarts of blood -- one and a half to two liters of blood. In a rapid blood loss, the body cannot get used to the -- to the loss, and the heart fails.
In a lung, people would lose blood over a long period of time, like from a bleeding ulcer or some intestinal problem, they can use lose a lot more than that: Much, much more than that, and survive and be treated and do well.
You said in a rapid blood loss like this case. If you would have the amount of blood loss to cause death, why would this be rapid?
What would cause it to be rapid?
All the injuries bled here. It's not like just the aorta bled; all the injuries bled together.
The injury in the leg bled, as manifested by the blood on the pants. All the injuries -- every time there is an opening in the -- in the skin, it all adds together in the loss, and it's all lost within a confined period of time.
Now, I'm going to ask to be put on the board next in order, 216 -- I'm sorry -- to be put on the TV monitor. And this was some picture of Mr. Goldman's jeans.
And where, in your opinion, did the blood come from?
This blood that's running down in here, you see very nicely how it stains the pants -- it goes from practically the top of the pants, all the way down to the leg -- to the end of the leg, where the shoe is.
This is blood that runs down from the -- runs down from the wound in the -- in the thigh, runs down on the leg. The wound bled and run down on the leg, and then was soaked up by the pants.
This blood is not blood that came on -- from the pants to the outside; this is blood that ran down the leg and stained the pants from the inside and was soaked into it.
(Continuing) Similarly to the blood on the upper portion of the pants, which is -- which is all soaking from the bleeding wound and the thigh.
The blood on the left shoe is blood that runs down here, that didn't meet the pants on the way, or did meet the pants up to where the pants go, and then went on the shoe, eventually soaked into the shoe and spread on the shoe.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Now, I believe there was a suggestion by counsel of a jugular vein cut and some blood coming from the jugular vein and finding its way to the pants.
And you were asked if, in your opinion, that occurred. And your answer was?
First of all, there is not this trail of blood from the jugular vein down.
Secondly, as I explained earlier, the jugular vein only partially bled to the outside. Most of the blood -- if the jugular vein is really bleeding, then the jugular vein would cause bleeding under the skin and into the muscles, not in the area of the neck and chest.
Thirdly, there is a wound in the chest which is totally, completely, and entirely capable of explaining how the blood got over the pants and onto the shoe. So I find it very difficult to take some remote -- remote possibility that to explain an event that is far more likely to be explained in the way that I did.
Now, you've possibly covered this, but when we're talking about the pants and the blood on the pants, you'd made some reference to some of the blood being somewhat above the thigh wound.
How, in your opinion, did it get there?
Well, it means it gets soaked in and it spreads. Once it gets in the fabric, it spreads. This is what makes a spot on fabric look like more than it really is in terms of quantity of blood.
I want to briefly -- since time was spent on it and in the cross-examination -- talk for a moment about the sequence of wounds to Mr. Goldman, and ask, with the Court's permission, if you'd be good enough to -- you still have your ruler? If you would, mark off the four-by-six area for me.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) This is roughly six feet. And so with the area, could you describe the area for me?
Yes. It's a little less than this. It's about up to where the -- where the wrapping paper is.
You had mentioned that he could have struggled for 40 to 60 seconds.
What could have happened -- could all the actions that Mr. Baker asked you about have occurred within this confined space in that 40 to 60 seconds?
Now, Mr. Baker mentioned an envelope being somewhere and a pager dropping, how -- and some blood on a railing.
How long would it have taken for those actions that Mr. Baker asked you about, in your opinion, to have occurred within this confined area?
And could a violent struggle have taken place over the period of time after Mr. A -- or Mr. Goldman's aorta was stabbed?
Absolutely. The aorta is not an immediately incapacitating wound, not in that sense, not instant by -- this is not you cut the nervous system. Bleeding has to occur first.
KEY QUOTEAll right. What I'd like you to do, because you've described -- well, first, if you would just describe for me quickly the wound that -- how many major wounds were there, because Mr. Baker asked you about a number of wounds.
How many major wounds were there?
There were -- there were, going from top to bottom, not in sequence -- there was -- there were the wounds in the neck area; there were two stab wounds in the chest on the right side. There was one wound in the left flank.
I do not consider the wound in the thigh as a major wound, for the simple reason that it is not a life-threatening injury.
No. The right lung could have collapsed, given time, but it did not collapse because there was no time.
And what is the significance of that in terms of the time that it might have taken Mr. Goldman to die?
His breathing stopped relatively early and his -- a significant exit of air from the lung into the chest cavity did not occur to cause a compression and collapse of the lung.
If I -- if I -- well, I can say that in the chest cavity, normally there is a mild vacuum to keep the lung suspended; otherwise, the lung -- the lung would collapse. Inside the lung is what is atmospheric pressure. The lung is opened by way of the air ways to the atmosphere. Atmospheric pressure is, as we know, quite high. Around the lung, it is a negative pressure, mild vacuum, not a very strong vacuum, a mild vacuum, so that when that vacuum is interrupted by a stab wound in the lung, there is atmospheric pressure transferred into this space around the lung, and the lung would collapse.
It did not collapse in this case.
Now, during the struggle -- you saw some pictures of what appeared to be bruising on Mr. Goldman's hand, around his knuckle area?
In your opinion, what is the -- you weren't there, but what is the most likely cause of that?
There was not only bruising, there was bruising, and over the bruising, in the middle, there were abrasions. And if you look at the picture, you will see that there is a dark area in the middle. That's an abrasion. That's where the upper layer of the skin is scuffed off. And it dried and became like leather and became dark brown to black.
That, in my opinion, is far more likely the result of striking a rough, firm object, like the wall or the bannister or the tree, or something of that nature, rather than a person.
I'm going to ask, with the Court's permission, if you could --
You said the struggle lasted approximately a minute. And you've heard the questions of Mr. Baker in terms of the various activities that occurred within the struggle.
Could you mark off on your watch for me -- and I'll be quiet for a minute -- 60 seconds, that period within which you said the activities occurred, starting now.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Is there any question, any actions Mr. Baker asked you about, or all the activities you described, could have happened within the 60 seconds?
And put on the board, please -- I'll look at 545 and 547 and 548 on the TV monitor.
(BY MR. MEDVENE) Can you describe for the jury and the Court where on there you've identified his fingernail marks.
And I'm going to ask you some follow-up questions.
If you want to redirect, redirect; Let's not go over the same testimony we got on direct.
All right, Your Honor.
Mr. Baker asked you some questions about typical fingernail marks or typical fingernail injuries.
Could you look, if you would, at 545 and -- or -- let's step back.
Could you go through for me why you say the marks you identified, not only on this picture but the other pictures, in your opinion, were fingernail marks?
Whereas there is not such a thing as a typical fingernail mark is only because there are various types of fingernail marks.
The fingernail marks, as this picture shows, can have gouges, where the fingernail scoops out a piece of tissue. This is not due to what I did this morning, digging in my fingers into the skin. This is a digging in and scooping out. And it gives rise to a missing piece of skin.
That is what this is and this is.
Don't make it too big.
This and that.
And then there are scratches, and those are like here, and there is another one here. And this one here is one line. And then on -- within that line are little, dark spots, dots, if you will, which are due to the fact that as the finger or fingers scrape the skin, they create a creasing of the skin, and the finger continues, or fingers continue over the crests of the creases, causing little defects in the crease, causing little scabs to form.
So we have a fingernail mark and we have a -- totally different fingernails marks, and yet both are typical fingernail marks, but they look completely different.
Then we have a third type of fingernail mark, which is on the fingers, which is here and there. And there are some more on the inside surface, which are not depicted here.
And these -- you will see all of these that I will show you are curved, and ones on the inside are curved, too. And they are done by a fingernail which digs in, and the fingernail is curved and it leaves a curved mark.
That's what you have here and here.
And then, as I say, there were some others. There's another picture.
Does the location of the marks have anything to do with your conclusion that they're fingernail marks?
The location is significant, because it is between the fingers. It is in an area that is accessible to the victim. It is only on the left hand.
The 60 seconds is long.
No. In fact, I said never.
The aorta is not an immediately incapacitating wound, not in that sense, not instant by -- this is not you cut the nervous system. Bleeding has to occur first.
She was pulled up and held and stabbed and slashed.